GCC Graduation & Student Success Stories
May 6, 2009
Contacts:
Suzanne Higgins
suzanne.higgins@gcmail.maricopa.edu 623.845.3808
Patricia Rhodes Vogel
pr.vogel@gcmail.maricopa.edu 623.845.3014
Glendale Community College invites the community to attend its 44th Commencement at 7 p.m. Friday, May 15, in the GCC central mall at 59th and Olive Avenues. Parking is free.
GCC will bestow 2,348 degrees and certificates with approximately 300 students expected to participate in the ceremony.
AARON MATOS TO SPEAK
The evening's keynote speaker will be Aaron Matos, 
well-known GCC alumnus and founder and CEO of Jobing.com. His company is a leading media provider of locally-focused online job search, recruiting, and talent management solutions designed to connect local employers and job seekers. He is a recognized expert on Internet recruiting, employment branding and recruitment advertising. His company is a three-time "Inc. 500 fastest-growing company," and today Matos leads a multi-million dollar enterprise which serves communities in 19 states.
The following are this year's GCC Graduation Success Stories for 2009. They are four examples of diverse, outstanding and interesting students who will graduate from GCC on May 15, 2009, often despite large obstacles. They are representative of the many high-quality and dedicated students at GCC.
RICHARD NICHOLS
It's challenging enough just to be in college, but deaf students have another big challenge that hearing students do not. The classroom traditionally has been a place of both auditory (teacher's voice) and visual (reading books and looking at the blackboard or other visual items) learning. Even visual aids such as films have an auditory component—the narrative soundtrack. So the approaching graduation of superior student Richard Nichols is doubly impressive, because he has been deaf since birth. Nichols graduated with honors from Peoria High School and enrolled at GCC on the "Against All Odds Scholarship" from the Peoria Enrichment Foundation and a scholarship from the Lions' Club.
He has had a sign-language interpreter throughout his GCC years but also has commented that watching the blackboard, the teacher's gestures and body language, the visual aids such as maps and overhead projections AND watching the interpreter almost nonstop is very difficult and produces major visual overload. He is quite tired at the end of class—much more so than a hearing student who has the advantage of being able to hear the teacher speak and watch all the visual aids simultaneously.
Despite the extra challenges Nichols has faced in college, he has done amazingly well. For example, one might think that for him to excel in a speech class would be almost impossible, but he not only did well in Communication 225 (Public Speaking) but also received an "Academic Excellence and Contributions in Class" award at the recent GCC Student Recognition Day event. He plans to stay at GCC while pursuing his Bachelor's Degree in Speech Communication from NAU, thanks to a partnership program between GCC and NAU that puts NAU instructors teaching upper-division courses into GCC classrooms.
NIKITA ROSSOW
GCC honor student Nikita Rossow is a member of the 2009 All-Arizona Academic team—the top community-college scholars in the state. These scholars are selected for academic achievement, leadership and service to the community. She was named to the All-Arizona Academic second team, which carries honors and a $750 award.
Rossow came to GCC from Peoria High School where she participated in many activities both in the community and on campus. Her favorite campus activity was participating in the marching band, where she played the flute and the mellophone. She attended GCC on both President's and Chancellor's Scholarships and is in the Honors Program. Rossow also belongs to the Phi Theta Kappa Society, the national community-college honors organization. She works part time for the city of Peoria in the Recreation Branch of the Community Service Program.
Rossow will graduate with an Associate of Arts in Recreational Tourism and a minor in General Business. The recreation field always has appealed to her, and her choice became definite after she shadowed a city of Peoria community service director for a few days. She plans to complete her bachelor's degree in Recreational Tourism at the west campus of Arizona State University. She hopes to have a career working in a recreational capacity for a city, parks program, cruise line or similar setting. Her dream job would be to produce "major events" at a place such as ASU's Gammage Auditorium, the Peoria Sports Complex or the University of Phoenix Stadium.
ALEXA YANTAS
Alexa Yantas was named to the 2009 All-Arizona Academic third team, which carried a $500 award. She is in the GCC Honors Program and belongs to the Phi Theta Kappa Society, the national community-college honors organization. Born and raised in Peru, she came to the United States with her family at age 12. Alexa said it was difficult at first to adjust to life here. In addition to adjusting to a new country, she had to learn English and adjust to a community very different from the one in which she grew up. She even had to adjust to the local Hispanic community, because her Peruvian language and culture were different than what existed here.
Neither of Alexa's parents attended college, but she decided on GCC after attending a First Year Experience presentation made at her high school by a GCC team. Despite many challenges, she has done extremely well at GCC and has earned the deep respect of her teachers, especially Dr. Jennifer Lane and Dr. Robert Reavis, who are two of her favorites. Her choice of major and career were strongly influenced by her classes with Reavis. She will graduate with an Associate in Arts in Biology and will transfer to ASU where her goals are a doctorate in Biology and a job in environmental and/or biological research.
JANIE TATE
Janie Tate is a stellar example of student perseverance in the pursuit of a college degree. She began taking classes at GCC in 1993, but raising her family meant she could take only a couple of classes a year. Now, 16 years and much hard work later, she is poised to graduate from GCC with a 3.7 grade point average.
Tate has enjoyed all her instructors and is particularly fond of Dr. Jim Reed and Dr. Pamela Joraanstad. Because her entire family resides in the Valley, she is thrilled to be able to stay at GCC to complete a bachelor's degree in Speech Communication with Organizational Emphasis from NAU. This stellar partnership between the two institutions allows students to take upper-division courses from NAU instructors at the GCC campus and never have to leave the Valley. Tate wants to work in some arena of social services, mentoring inner city youth and teaching them about the importance of getting an education. She graduates with an Associate in Arts (with distinction), an Academic Certificate in Communication Competence in the Workplace, and an Arizona General Education Curriculum degree, Type A (AGEC-A). She expects to complete a bachelor's degree from NAU during summer 2010.
